Baandb
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Posts posted by Baandb
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Our agent has arranged transfers with BlackLane. She has used them numerous times with other clients.
We are also using them for a airport transfer in Oslo
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On 2/4/2024 at 6:26 AM, LaZ-Day said:
I think this is a very reasonable approach. If the person has not been in the pool area for more than 30 minutes, I would have no qualms about removing their items. ....
I might be a bit naive....Throughout this thread there appears to be an assumption that it is ok to reserve a lounger for a period of 20/30/60 minutes while the occupier is off doing something else.
My view is that only time a seat should be reserved is while the occupier remains in the pool area. That means the person is either sitting on the lounger, taking a dip in the pool or getting a drink from the poolside bar.
If leaving for any other purpose (eg a meal, returning to your room) the chair should be vacated.
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The fundamental flaw with the presumption that 20/30/60 minutes is OK is that a fellow guest arriving at the pool has absolutely no idea how long a particular chair has already been vacant for.
When on holiday I don't think anyone has a desire to stand around the deck area for 30 minutes of so waiting to see if an unoccupied lounger becomes vacant.
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On 5/27/2020 at 3:46 AM, pinotlover said:
With all these ship movements, don’t forget the ship have to either pay to have their sewage tanks emptied, OR get far enough offshore to make a legal discharge. Without passengers, the amount of extra fuel burned to maintain services and making a short run is minimal.
I thought it was the crew movements that generated the sewerage
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Thank you
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13 hours ago, ruthnlarry said:
Yes, I have checked the airfare. Nonstop flights to Auckland are expensive, and limited.
We've been using the itasoftware site for a very long time, and have found it to be helpful.
Based on your profile, I assume you live in Chicago.
Unfortunately there is only one Airline (Air New Zealand) that flies directly between Chicago and Auckland - so the laws of supply and demand keep prices high.
Air NZ do have a web-site that offers special deals on a limited number of seats for various date ranges.
- Although there are typically more seats available for Economy tickets - there are often some good deals on Business and Premium Economy fares as well.
- If you see a good deal, jump on it quickly as any great deals are snapped up very quickly
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Today we received a brochure from Oceania that highlighted the Oceania Club benefits.
For silver members, it highlights "VIP shore excursion check-in" as being a benefit.
A Google search brings up the following page which also mentions this benefit....
https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/articles.cfm?ID=2483
However I can't find out what this actually means....
Does it mean that silver members and above have a seperate check-in desk in the lounge - hence a shorter queue for a tour ticket? (If so, this doesn't seem much of a benefit when the queues are often very short or non-existent)
Or does it mean silver + up members are given preferential access to the tour buses that leave earlier? (reducing wait time)
Thoughts?
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It's a pity that "Boaty McBoatFace" was already taken ...
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1 hour ago, srdancer said:
There is another alternative. You can book cruise only and pay a flat rate pp and have unlimited excursions - same restrictions - no OS or OE. With this plan there is a deep discount on the OS and OE excursions. This is appropriate if you plan to take all or mostly ships tours. We did this for our cruise to Cuba - the 25% off deal was not offered - and paid around $90 pp for a tour that had a $249 pp list price. This was in addition to 5 includes tours. (We were more comfortable doing ships tours in Cuba.) We saved about $400 doing it this way. Need to do the math.
Thanks everyone for the useful responses.
PS: Good hint around the maths. We ran some calculation to see the hypothetical difference if we took an excursion at every port (11 in total) - and were surprised to find that the "unlimited" fixed price option was slightly more expensive than the 25% option!
At this stage we are looking to do a combination of private and ship excursions
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A related question...
* We are looking at an upcoming cruise where there is a 25% YWC ("Your World Collection") discount for selecting 6 or more excursions
* We are also considering whether to take the OLife option of 4 complementary excursions (vs on taking board credit)
To quality for the YWC discount - doe we simply need to take 6 or more excursions including the 4 x OLIfe excursions - or do we need to take 6 on top of the OLife excursions (ie 10 excursions in total)?
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8 minutes ago, Paulchili said:
And how is this relevant to help saving the environment which reusing the towels aims to do?
With all due respect, I suggest the environmental impact of not washing a towel is dwarfed by the other environmental impacts associated with the cruising industry.
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1 hour ago, Paulchili said:
Is this your custom at home as well?
Of course not......
But then again, at home, I also have to make my own bed, cook my own meals, do my own dishes, pour my own drinks arrange my own entertainment - and all the myriad of other activities that the wonderful Oceania staff do for me when I’m holiday.
By the way, I’m a bit bemused that this thread is dominated by sentiments related to looking generous the wonderful stewardesses. However, the actual work is performed by the faceless team working in the laundry.
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On 10/1/2019 at 4:54 PM, KS&JW said:
If you hang up the towels they will not replace them. Those towels we wanted refreshed we placed on the floor or in the tub. They do different things in the evening 'cleaning' This cleaning is when you get the currents or anything else that is distributed to the cabins.
Apologies, I’m clearly not a true left coast/tree hugging, green leaning environments, as I like having the fresh towels replaced each evening as well as the chocolates.
However, despite the above failings, I’m a bit horrified by the amount of waste paper that must generated each day. Inevitably there is the currents, the port overview, the 4 page newspaper summary, the multi-page inserts promoting future cruises and various cards indicating that the deck is being washed, the clocks being moved back or forward. This is further exacerbated if you receive the full sized newspaper printouts that can be upwards of 50 pages (complimentary in the upper cabins) where you receive all the advertising inserts related to property/cars etc as well as the core newspaper.
I hate to think how much paper is wasted each day. Sure the majority of this information can be provided electronically......
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Many thanks for the prompt response
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We have a nice bottle of wine that we want to take to an onboard restaurant to share with friends.
We would fully expect to pay for the corkage. However, as it is a magnum (1.5 litres) we are wondering whether the cost would be $25 or $50?
Has anyone had a previous experience of taking a larger bottle to the restaurants?
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I understand from one of our previous butlers that have their own database where they can keep notes about passenger preferences. I was also told that they are required to memorise the names of their guests before they board, and as part of this “research” they may consult the system to get a high level overview of your history with Oceania (eg Oceania club status).
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I’m intrigued by the assumption that missed ports are driven by a desire to reduce costs - by eliminating port fees.
I would have thought that missing ports would end up costing the cruise line extra costs. eg:
* The cost of fuel
* No doubt most ports charge the shipping fee a no-show/cancellation fee
* Loss of deposits for onshore excursion companies
* Loss of revenue from excursions
* Increased back office admin costs associated with the change of plans
* Increaded food costs - with more passengers aboard for lunch.
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On 11/30/2018 at 3:30 AM, ABoatNerd said:
What is common to all the fall cruises with the many missed ports is this - Oceania explained little, treated guests as idiots incapable of understanding the circumstances of future weather and not worth consulting with.
Are you serious?
Do you really expect the captain to send out a survey to guests, asking them if they prefer to skip a port or visit it and risk injury to guests?
Sorry - but I would rather put my trust in the captain (and his support team in Miami) who have the data, skills and experience to interrupt the information and make the most appropriate decision.
Although in general I disagree with your assertion that Oceania treats guests as idiots - in this particular scenario I am glad that they do.
The day that Oceania consults my fellow passengers about how to navigate the ship in inclement weather is the day that I stop sailing with Oceania.
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On 12/6/2018 at 3:39 AM, Rob the Cruiser said:
When is a newbie no longer a newbie? Is a repeat newbie allowed to speak to a non-newbie who apparently has only cruised Oceania and therefore has never been a newbie? Is there a repeat-repeat newbie? Is it based number of cruises or duration? Perhaps a dollar threshold? Is there a secret handshake? If I had switched from Regent to Oceania would I be less of a newbie than if I had switched from Celebrity?
Behind this slightly flippant remark lies a very serious question.
According to Google, the definition of a newbie is "an inexperienced newcomer to a particular activity."Therefore, the status of newbie is entirely dependent on the definition of an activity. For example a passenger could be a non-newbie on Oceania, whilst a newbie on the Renaissance class of ships.Which leads to an intriguing observation...The usage of the term newbie has varied considerably over the years. However, there are 2 distinct spikes:1. In the 1600’s there was a significant increase in the usage of the word. This coincides with the end of the Renaissance Period2. From 2000 onwards, there was another significant increase in the usage of the “newbie” - which coincides with the demise of the Renaissance Cruise line.Clearly this is no coincidence....Also, observant readers of Cruise Critic will be aware that many newbies in the current era fret over what clothing attire is suitable to wear to the Grand Dining Room.However, we can take comfort that newbies in the 1600’s experienced exactly the insecurities. Looking back at the first cruise to America (onboard the MayFlower), one passenger carried 126 pairs of shoes and 13 pairs of boots in his luggage.It is not clear if this included flip-flops. Unfortunately it is not clear from the historical documents whether or not the maitre d' sent the passenger back to his cabin at dinner time to get changed.
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On 12/5/2018 at 5:10 AM, pinotlover said:
Simple example is on our Nautica February cruise a malepassenger was denied entry to Toscana attempting to wear flip flops. Six of We passengers were seated with his wife and waited for his return before ordering. And we waited and waited. About 25 minutes later he returned with regular socks and shoes on. That cruiser knew full well that flip flops weren’t allowed.
Presumably the flip flop wearer was a friend, or part of a pre-arranged group?
Otherwise, I would have expected the Maitre'D to ask the wife the wife to take a seat, and seat the remaining guests at a smaller table - or with other guests looking to share.
I would certainly not be impressed having to wait 25 mins for the recalcitrant guest to arrive!
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On our last couple of cruises, we have been more conscious of the behaviour of some of our fellow passengers when using buses for excursions.
1. There is inevitably a couple (travelling together) who will take 2 seats on opposite sides of the aisle - so that each can have an unimpeded window view. (This also tends to correspond to those seats where there is no pylon separating the glass panels)
2. Our expectation is that (like egressing from an aircraft), those at the front egress first, whilst those further down the aisle wait their turn to exit. However there always seems to be guest who will force there way down the aisle earlier so that they can be off the bus 10 secs earlier...
3. Guests travelling as a group will have 1 member of the party arrive early at the bus, and then reserve seats nearbyfor others in their party using hats and umbrellas etc. This seems rather pointless as busses are not conducive to extended conversations
4. There are often 2 sets of doors on the bus, with one set midway down the bus, enabling those at the rear of the bus to egress quicker. However, those passengers slightly forward of these middle doors will typically want use these doors as well. Although they more convenient or these particular passengers, it ends up slowing down the exits for the majority of passengers - as the load transfers from the front doors to the rear doors.
5. The Oceania process is for guests to receive there bus number, and then it in the lounge for their number to be called. However, it seems there are passengers who ignore the instructions and head of immediately to the busses. This is particularly evident in those excursions that require significant travel on the bus.
Whilst the majority of fellow passengers are courteous, it is bemusing to watch the above behaviours...
im interested in seeing whether others have noted similar actions?
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Recently there was a review of the Sirena aft cabin 7114. The review was negative on the environment of the cabin in regards to sleeping and habitation. Specifically, the vibration was so strong that the ship's staff gave the pax a separate cabin to sleep in.This is an OS in the aft corner of the ship, which we have booked for a Transatlantic next year.. Transatlantic crossings usually are at full speed on sea days, so we are concerned. Anyone else have positive or negative personal experiences in the aft cabins around 7114? I want to filter out excessively negative reviews.
We were in 7114 on the Sirena last May for 18 days from Papeete to Los Angeles. Despite 10 sea days crossing the Pacific we did not have any untoward vibrations.
However, one night we did hear some rattling coming from the air conditioning unit in the bedroom ceiling. After mentioning it to our butler the next morning, within an hour an engineer arrived and quickly sorted the problem out.
This is a wonderful cabin and we wouldn't hesitate to book it again.
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Your reply nicely illustrates why posting questions on this board is of limited value. The typical regular here is a cheerleader of whichever cruise line they participate in and will assume that negative comments must be the fault of the poster.
I’m sure we have all observed customer service interactions where there was in issue related to how a question was being asked, rather than what was being asked.
As an aside, there are typically 2 sides to a story. It is bemusing to sse the label “cheerleader” used disparagingly to discredit the opinion of somebody who (having only heard one side of the story), does not immediately assume that a post portrays a situation objectively, without being selective and/or self-serviing.
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Quite awhile back, I sent an email to ask a very generic question and received a response that requested my confirmation number and other identifying information. I responded that the question didn't require providing the requested information. A back-and-forth exchange ensued and she would not provide the requested, very-vanilla information unless I identified myself and my booking information.
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We spoke with Oceania CS today, with our travel agent conferenced in, about receiving our travel documents, luggage tags, etc. "
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Thoughts?
You asked for thoughts, so here are mine...
The fact that you:
(1) chose to engage in a protracted back and forth exchange with the customer services team; and(2) needed to have your agent sit in onyourcallmakes me think that your predicament is of your own making.
Thanks for asking for my opinion... :)
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I am booked on the Regatta to Alaska in June.. my first Oceania Cruise...but have recently read some disappointing reviews from cruisers on this ship in December. Does anyone have any thoughts. This is my last day to cancel so any input would be helpful
Yes, I have some thoughts....I’m pretty sure others do as well :)
Flippancy aside, I would consider;
* how many negative reviews you have read from other cruisers in December, January & February?
* how many have actually sailed in that period (say 6 cruises with 650 passengers each)
* the likelihood of some posting about a negative experience vs a positive experience
Therein lies your answer
...Relax, and enjoy your cruise...
First Oceania Cruise...21 Days on Regatta...No Thanks...Back to Celebrity
in Oceania Cruises
Posted
Sunrise at this time of the year isn't until around 0615.
As per another thread on this topic, unless the chair is occupied, other guests wanting to use the seat should be entitled to move any "place holders"